Athleticism or Well Polished Game?

Posted on: Wed, 01/06/2010 - 6:31pm

Chrispy

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Joined: 01/01/2010

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Geez

This thread is all over the place! I would take not only one kind of player. It all depends on the position they play, work ethic, and team need. If I am rebuilding and have the chance to take a hyper athletic big man, then I take Howard over Okafor or even a reach for a physical freak of nature like Joe Alexander (maybe a bad pick, but can't blame them for trying!) . If I have a decent squad and need a polished "high b-ball IQ" player then maybe I take an Eric Maynor (someone with not great upside but you KNOW what your getting). It all depends, and that I think we can all agree on.

I'm not trying to compare apples and oranges here. I'm simply saying that everything depends on need, team make-up, and team direction. I'm saying that and simply that rather than trying to make a straight up comparison. Just using examples! How about James Harden? Not a freak, but does a little of everything well. Team was expected to be decent (not as good as they are, but decent) and they took a safe, polished player that could help their rotatation rather than a guy like Derozan.

It's like asking who would you choose between
Emeka Okafor or Dwight Howard,
Pau Gasol or Tyson Chandler,
Kevin Love or DeAndre Jordan,
James Harden or Demar Derozan,

I am definitely intrigued by athletic players... The thing about well-polished players are they no longer have room for improvement... Take for example Emeka Okafor, who in 6 seasons in the NBA now seems to provide THE SAME stats year after year... While you could see Dwight Howard's number going up every year which shows significant progress... But taking an athletic player would provide risks because we will never be able to measure just how "hardworking" they really are... Then we might not see those improvements on the floor when it matters most...